The Arsonists

November 03, 2017

LEWIS & CLARK THEATRE DEPARTMENT PRESENTS

Fall 2017 Main Stage Play

THE ARSONISTS

by Max Frisch

Directed by Professor Stepan Simek

SYNOPSIS OF THE PLAY

Mr. Gottlieb Biedermann is your average middle-class guy. A successful, albeit a bit ruthless businessman, he leads an orderly, perfectly unremarkable, one may even say decent family life in an unremarkable town somewhere in the world. He’s a normal, perhaps a bit boring guy and if you met him, and then bumped into him a few weeks later, you’d probably not remember him at all. Just another normal, pretty OK, run-of-the-mill guy, just like most people are, living a righteous life in an orderly community, just like most people do. Except for one thing: Houses are being burned down in his town, and some unseen arsonists are setting the world on fire - literally. Mr. Biedermann resolutely condemns the arsonists, and pledges - in the name of human decency - to help put an end to the destruction, even as he is certain that nothing bad would ever happen to him – he is a good and decent man after all. Moreover, being a decent man, Biedermann willingly gives shelter to two down-on-their-luck drifters. When the two visitors start filling his attic with explosive gas canisters and start unwinding a detonating cord, Mr. Biederman, the decent, normal, and unremarkable “Everyman” that he is, is more than willing to assist them.

BOX OFFICE (Fir Acres Theatre):

Tickets can also be purchased (cash only) at our box office, Monday through Friday, 1:00-5:00pm, and one hour before performances beginning October 24. Phone reservations for non-campus ticket purchasers only (503-768- 7495).